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Re: New Forum Idea: Sideliners

Adrian: Maybe this isn't the majority view but I don't have a problem with questions and some discussion by non commercials just so you don't lose sight of the fact that the forum is designed for discussion about making your primary living off of your bees. If you choose to dispense advice on there based on a very limited sample and try to apply it to a commercial scale then I think you are missing the whole point of the forum.

"People will generally accept facts as truth only if the facts agree with what they already believe."- Andy Rooney

Re: New Forum Idea: Sideliners

Originally Posted by jim lyon

Adrian: Maybe this isn't the majority view but I don't have a problem with questions and some discussion by non commercials just so you don't lose sight of the fact that the forum is designed for discussion about making your primary living off of your bees. If you choose to dispense advice on there based on a very limited sample and try to apply it to a commercial scale then I think you are missing the whole point of the forum.

as always, you make good points jim.

in the same way, someone trying to have a profitable sideline business would have issues and concerns somewhat different than someone making their living at it, or someone doing it just for fun.

on the other hand, most anything can be and is discussed on the main forum. likewise, i have learned a lot by interacting on the commercial forum and have not felt unwelcome there.

journaling the growth of a treatment free apiary started in 2010. 20+/- hives

Re: New Forum Idea: Sideliners

Originally Posted by dnichols

Consolidate some of the unpopular

How would you like it if someone deleted your favorite forum just because it was "unpopular?" The total number of forums is irrelevant. They're like genres in music. They exist. They don't exactly take up a lot of space. I'm not personally a Warre beekeeper and never would be. So why not allow those who want to talk about a subject their own corner in which to talk about it? There's really no downside.

Originally Posted by Adrian Quiney WI

I am cautious about posting questions on the big boy's commercial forum

Whenever I post there it seems like the first response I get is "do you have a day job? I thought so, get lost."

Originally Posted by jim lyon

the forum is designed for discussion about making your primary living off of your bees

So what's the objection to a forum with a different designation? Shouldn't it get more of those you complain about out of your hair?

Re: New Forum Idea: Sideliners

I am not complaining just thinking out loud about possible confusion and ramifications that might result. No question the genre "sideliner" exists. just be prepared for the debate about who does and dose t fit in. I'm pretty sure I have never complained about any hobbyist or sideliner coming to the commercial site to ask and to learn. In the end Barry's all knowing and all seeing wisdom will prevail.

Re: New Forum Idea: Sideliners

Originally Posted by squarepeg

i always use the 'what's new' button at the top, rather than look at each forum individually.

You can look at each forum individually? Just partially kidding as it is honestly something I very rarely do. I don't think I've ever really noticed that "What's new" button, either. I generally just go through "Recent Forum Threads" on the homepage. That's enough to keep me busy. -js

Re: New Forum Idea: Sideliners

Maybe I need to rethink my position.
The commercial forum is availible to me as a resource. I never have had an issue asking a question. The commercial guys answer all sincere questions even if some think they play rough.
It's a good resource for me.
If we are going to have a "almost" or "partial" Commercial forum maybe we should have a 98% treatment free forum.
I only use treatments a couple times a year....so I consider myself 99% treatment free!

Re: New Forum Idea: Sideliners

As for using the forums, my general routine is that I hit my subscribed threads first to see if anything new is there...then I hit the "new posts" (or whatever). I seldom go to a specific forum unless I'm wanting to read back through previous threads about specific things (such as "pests and disease"). I'm pretty sure I have mistakenly posted in the commercial forum before when I didn't pay attention to which forum the "new post" that I replied to was located...I've never been jumped on for doing so, though.

I think most folks know (or know shortly after becoming beekeepers) what a "sideliner" is...it doesn't take a phd to figure it out. As for stipulating *who* can post in a sideliner forum...isn't any hobbyist a potential sideliner?

It would be a good place to consolidate threads about sideliners....threads on jar purchasing, jar re-cycyling, avenues to sell your honey, honor-system stands, legalities, tips on juggling a job and your beekeeping venture, venturing in to larger equipment needs, growing pains, etc.,.

One thing that might keep me from participating would be specific rules for the forum...why not just have it like the main bee forum? Slapping peoples' hands who apparently have an interest but posted "wrong" is a good way to run them off from a forum, especially when they're new and looking for help. I know that I avoid certain forums that tend to be "my way or the highway" type forums. To me, it is only sensible that we should all hope that hobbyists evolve to sideliners...it can only be good for the industry and for the propagation/increase of honey bee populations.

Re: New Forum Idea: Sideliners

I would like a sideliner forum.
For example, I would like to talk about which tax form as a sideliner. I ended up with schedule C for 2012--after asking my tax guy to do F, still got C. I need to start a thread? Where?

Pleasant words are a honeycomb, sweet to the soul and healing to the bones. Prvb 16:24
March 2010; +/- 50 hives, TF

Re: New Forum Idea: Sideliners

I'd like the idea of a sideline forum. Starting as a hobbiest, I like watching the commercial guys to see how they are running. There are tons here in Nor Cal. I pass Strachan on my way to my shop and see one of three regular beeks at 7/11 quite often. And maybe one day if I can become a successful beekeeper (with a lot of help and a little luck), I'd like to think I could use it as a sideline business one day (tax deduction till then). But there is a large gap between 10 (hobbie hives) and a full time 500-10,000 hive business. A sideliner forum might bridge that gap nicely. Something a hobby guy could watch and move towards.

Re: New Forum Idea: Sideliners

It seems to me that adding another commercial forum would dilute or isolate topics and posts. I haven't seen where the commercial forum had a problems with posts by hobbiest as long as they realize it is the commercial forum.

Re: New Forum Idea: Sideliners

As I have noticed some of the "pro's" do sometimes pipe up on general and the 101 forums with help, I think they would probably keep an eye in a sideliner forum too. With a full range from a very large commercial to several former pros and several sideliners in my county club and its affiliates available to ask questions when they do come to meetings, I can really see an advantage to a sideliner forum here.

There are a great many topics I can think of discussing as I watch my mentor trying to recover and get back past 50 hives by August. The more I can learn in real life with an outlet here shared internationally, the better my footing might be in trying to hit that number next year myself.

The former club president with 50+ years experience and a "Bee's don't read books" and "The internet is almost all bad advice" almost kept me out of beekeeping totally. I am people savvy enough to know I needed to search out other opinions on subjects. Turns out a friend of 25 years that I haven't seen in last 5 has been keeping bees for 8 years. Turned out to be a good mentor, sometimes I agree with his style, sometimes I can teach him from what the wiser ones here have shared.

How much can be learned in that critical jump from "I installed my first package today" to "My trip to the almonds" with just a more comfortable area to share? Isn't that pretty much where this website started?

Thank you for all you have and will share in the future. I am learning tons and enjoying the fellowship immensely.

Re: New Forum Idea: Sideliners

I like it. Sometimes I read posts and don't know if a guy with 2 hives or 20,000 is writing it, so I don't know how to process the information. A sideliners forum would help all of us people in the middle ground by focusing all of our questions in one place.

Re: New Forum Idea: Sideliners

I'm in. Running around 30 hives this year for production, bought a small honey house load of equipment last year in one fell swoop. Very different as far as extracting operations from 4 hives to 30 : ). I have a couple of threads I could start when it's up. Heading into 2nd year as a sideliner.

Re: New Forum Idea: Sideliners

How did I miss this thread? Please please please Barry, give us a sideliner forum! My intention is to build up to sideliner status over the next few years and while the commercial forum is a great resource (most of you commercial folks rock!) there is the feeling sometimes that sideliners are looked down upon in that forum (whether true or not, that's how it seems sometimes). It would be nice to have a forum where I can feel free to ask specific sideline questions that would get lost in the general forum areas and be pooh-poohed by some in the commercial area.